Ravenblade
by Draconicality
Summary: I got disappointed with how the first one turned out, so I'm writing a much better version. For the many people who haven't seen this before, it's a Redwall fic. With dragons.
1. Prologue

RAVENBLADE: PROLOGUE

Around a crackling fire in the tiny cave, deep in Mossflower, a strange scene was revealed.

The big dog fox was scarred and lean, a brass hoop in his ear revealing his corsair origin.  His fur was gray, he was clad in a simple tunic, and his cunning eyes were undulled by his age.

Yet, seated near the merry blaze, with his equally old vixen mate, three young fox cubs staring intently at him with bright eyes, he did not seem like a normal vermin.

Derlan, one of the cubs, squeaked, "Daddy Rellback, ye said ye wuz gonna tell uz the story!"

Rellback, for that was his name, yawned and stretched.  "Aye, me liddle buckoes, indeedy I'm gonna tell ye me story, but only if ye sits still n' quiet, like babes in the Abbey yonder."  He pointed in the direction of Redwall.

Kerrim, the oldest cub, piped in her high reedy voice, "Heeheehee!  T 'e Dibbn's are even worsers ten us sometimes, Daddy!"

The youngest cub Rine spoke up as well.  "T'ey runs around and plays t'icks alla time!"

"Not when an elder tells tales, they don't."

Denveer, the vixen, smiled and elbowed him in the side.  "Eh, stop th' gab, cubs, settle ye down.  Rellback, ye promised."

'Aye aye, cap'ness!" joked Rellback.  "Kay, 'kay!  Listen ye well naow, me cubs…"

And strange as it was, the happy little family of foxes settled down to listen, as Rellback the former corsair began to unfold the tale from his younger days.  

The tale of the Dragons.


	2. Arrival

RAVENBLADE: ARRIVAL

Neil Stormweaver struggled her way through the blinding rain, leaving a trail of crimson behind her.

She was a great green seadragon.  Resembling a very large lizard with a finned tail, webbed claws and feet, and two huge wings, the wounded beast staggered through the mud.

One huge gash marked her wing; another deep wound nearly cleaved her tail in half.  Several slash marks marred her scaly chest.

She snarled at the thought of the battle that had given her these wounds, the enormous horde of vermin that had come in the dark of night.  There had been other dragons among them, and her anger soared at the thought of them.

They were black dragons.  Black was a disease colour; all dragons who turned to evil ways had ebony scales.

And there had been so many!  Her tribe of Levia had been caught unawares – she had been lucky, escaping with only these wounds.  A few, she was sure, would have gotten away, escaping into the vast sea, but she had left behind a sea of dead.  The shore had been littered with green and blue bodies, silver-red blood dyeing the sands a horrible dark colour.  

She had not been among their number, knocked unconscious by the vermin spearshaft that had thudded against her skull.  Many, many had not been so fortunate as she.

Moisture trickled down her cheeks, salty tears combining with the rain, and Neil Stormweaver gripped her battleblade all the more tightly.  The Tsunami Blade was her protection.  She could not fight unarmed, not in this state.

It seemed like years before she broke through the trees into a clearing. 

She had found the Dragontribe of Vulcan.

Or what was left of it.

The green dragon's mouth gaped open in astonishment, for the clearing was a mass of gore.

The bodies of many different dragons littered the place, some twisted in grotesque positions, some with their eyes open and glazed in death.  

All of them had been slaughtered by the same force that had killed off her own tribe.

Suddenly, a pair of taloned hands pulled her back into the bushes.

"Be ye friend to us who are left, or be ye foe?"  

Frightened and surprised, Neil spun to face the other dragon, standing armed with a Doublescythe, a staff with two curved blades protruding at opposite ends.  

The other dragon with her golden scales and darkly coloured blades, could only be…

Neil bowed, wincing at the pain from her wounds.  "I am a friend to ye, your Majesty, Nyx Ravenblade of Vulcan."

Nyx shook her head sadly.  "The tribe of Levia has fallen as well, then?"  She placed her face in her hands.  "'Tis horrible for all the Dragontribes, with the horde named Corpsewake on the loose."

Neil nodded agreement.  "Thou are not the only survivor, I hope?"

Nyx nodded at the shadows.

Out of the rain marched four more wyrms.  One, a giant covered in blue scales, Neil recognized from an earlier visit; he was Reid Skyefeather, husband to Nyx Ravenblade, but as a law, only one ruled.  Nyx was the one.

The other two were Earth dragons, judging by their sand – colored feathers and huge claws as well as their thin wings and toothy, birdlike beaks.  Nyx introduced them: Saan Earthtalon and Drakk Steelbeak were their names.

"A pitiful handful of survivors, we are," hissed Saan softly.

Nyx's eyes, which glowed emerald in the dimness, were closed in thought.  "This all goes back to the one ancient prophecy."

Neil blinked.  "What?"

Reid removed a parchment scroll from beneath his wing and handed it to Nyx, who hunched over, spreading her own glittering wings to keep it dry.

"One reigns golden over all,

  One broods in the evil dark.

  To the black one the vermin hark.

  Shadow hordes will sweep the land,

  Lay two Dragontribes low.

  Thou few left, move fast not slow.

  Hark to the redstone walls,

  Let not darkness conquer all,

  Never give in or everybeast shall fall.

  If yon beasts shall be calm,

  Wander the crimson house,

  Answers lie in dreams

  Thou must meet the warrior mouse."

Drakk sounded skeptical.  "That is all we have to go on?"

The gold Dragonqueen nodded.  "We now seek the redstone house."

All five touched their wingtips together.  "In the memory of our tribe, we seek vengeance on the killers of thee all.  May thy spirits guide us."

*******

It was dawn and the rain had stopped, lightening the dismal mood slightly.

The five had found the path, and now slogged through the mud in dismal silence.  They were too water logged to fly, although Nyx had already bound and treated Neil's wounds with what herbs grew through the forest they had traveled through.

And finally, finally…

Neil was the first one to see it.  "There it is, my companions."  She pointed at the redstone lump that rose above the trees.

Nyx Ravenblade nodded.  "Aye, we have arrived."


End file.
